Hoping to sell your home in 2011? Watching the residential real estate market carefully because you know that if it goes on the upswing the commercial real estate market will, too?
Well, don’t read this post.
A new survey from HomeGain of more than 750 real estate agents and brokers found that the residential real estate community isn’t confident at all in the health of the housing market.
In fact, these agents were downright pessimistic about what 2011 will bring for the housing world.
According to the HomeGain survey, 39 percent of agents and brokers said that home values will decrease over the next six months. A total of 44 percent of real estate agents and brokers said that they think home values will remain the same during the next six months.
Where’s the optimism? Just 17 percent of agents and brokers say that they expect home values to increase in the next six months. That is up a bit from HomeGain’s results in the fourth quarter of 2010. In that survey, just 12 percent predicted rising home values.
It’s hard to argue with these numbers: Housing markets across the Midwest have shown little inclination of rising.
And agents and homeowners tend to be more pessimistic in the Midwest. Both Illinois and Michigan made the list of the top five most pessimistic states when it comes to home values.
“Optimism regarding the direction of home prices among real estate professionals remains muted and relatively unchanged from last quarter,” said Louis Cammarosano, general manager of HomeGain, in a statement. “Home buyers and sellers continue to disagree on what homes are worth with buyers expecting lower prices and sellers continuing to believe their homes are worth more than what their agents and brokers are telling them.”
– Dan Rafter
I believe its we’re Pessimistic